Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Upcycled FREE Dresser!

For those of you that don't know, Todd and I live in a teeny tiny townhouse that was built in the 1950s. Seriously- it's small! It's about 400 square feet per floor! Our bedroom was feeling pretty cramped after getting a new king sized bed and an ottoman for the foot of the bed. I sold my gigantic dresser (that was really a credenza/filing cabinet) for $220. (Thanks Craigslist!) The plan was to buy a "new" dresser... aka a used dresser on Craigslist and refinish it; one that was more scaled to our small space. But what do you know? The day (or day after?) I sold my dresser, I walked outside to walk the dog and lo and behold what did I find? A FREE dresser a few townhouses down! It was totally perfect! I ran back to the house (dragging the dog along behind me) to tell Todd to come outside and check it out. He was thinking, "Oh great..." but he approved it after a thorough pest inspection.

As you can see from the picture above, it wasn't in bad shape. It was actually pretty cute! However the minty color didn't quite fit into our decor. So it got a makeover in a matter of hours and turned into a crisp white cottage-y dresser with hidden pops of cheery yellow.

Here are some more before pictures:

And here are some after shots:

The paint and primer I already had so it didn't cost me one cent!

The top of the dresser is still a bit cluttery. I need to seriously style it. :) I also need to spruce up the artwork. (Which I already have pieces of lying around the house... I just need to take a few minutes to organize it and then hang it up.)

As for the original knobs, they weren't bad at all. In fact, I really liked them. What bothered me was that there were six knobs and only five were identical; the sixth was slightly different. A perfect excuse to go to Hobby Lobby and snag some new ones! I picked up two really cute yellow flowers for the smaller top drawer. For the bottom two drawers (which are bigger), I got four giant glass looking knobs. I love them. So. Much. All the knobs were 1/2 off. I spent a little more then I wanted to but I had a gift card and only ended up spending $1 and spare change out of pocket. The old knobs I will reuse in another project.

And I painted the insides of the drawers white. The drawers looked kind of nasty before I painted them and I didn't want to put my clothes in them. The sides of the drawers went yellow. I got a sample container of paint on clearance (already mixed so I have no idea what specific color it is) for only $1.50! I only did one coat and didn't worry too much about even coverage. I wanted it to be kind of worn looking.

Don't you love those dovetail joints? You don't see that anymore on today's furniture.

I reorganized my earrings. I got a cute planter with a lace-like edging from Michaels. It was on clearance for only $3! The holes are perfect for putting my earrings through. The bottom of the planter holds some miscellaneous jewelry such as studs and pins.

I got this wire tree from a thrift store for only $1. It matches the black hardware in the bedroom. It's great for bracelets and necklaces that I wear frequently.

And my favorite piece is this really old Whitman's chocolate box from 1922. It used to belong to my Great Grandmother. I keep my rings in it.

Underneath the dresser there was space for additional storage. I got two large baskets from Michaels at 1/2 off, spending only $9 per basket plus 15% off for my teacher discount. I put some little felt feet on the bottom so the baskets would be easy to slide in and out. I use the baskets for cardigans and sweaters.

Overall, what a great find! The added bonus was this project cost me virtually nothing! I hope this inspires you to refinish something soon in your home!

12 comments:

You did a beautiful job! I would love it if you stopped by and linked this up to my weekly link party. Hope to see you there! http://thelifeofjenniferdawn.blogspot.com/2012/10/a-little-bird-told-me-link-party-12.html

I'm in shock that this was free!!! It's gorgeous - loving the bowed drawers! I just did a tall boy version ( NOT FREE lol ) of this dresser - beautiful job!Definitely your newest follower - would love to have you come by and follow back when you have the time :)Hugs,Suzan

That is completely gorgeous! I cannot believe someone left that out for trash!? I'm not sure where to buy such an awesome piece other than an antique shop? I sure haven't ever seen anything like that in my local thrift store. And your upgrades made it just lovely. I love the Whitman's box, too, very special.